10 things to know today: Oct. 19

Wednesday

Oct 19, 2016 at 10:00 AM

Get a roundup of the day's top news in the nation and world.

The Associated Press

Clinton, Trump set for last debate as ugly race nears finish

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's ugly and acrimonious battle for the White House is barreling toward the end, with the candidates taking the debate stage Wednesday night for one final primetime showdown.

For Trump, the debate is perhaps his last opportunity to turn around a race that appears to be slipping away from him. His predatory comments about women and a flood of sexual assault accusations have deepened his unpopularity with women and limited his pathways to victory. His supporters remain intensely loyal, but there are few signs he's attracting the new backers he desperately needs.

Clinton takes the stage facing challenges of her own. While the electoral map currently leans in her favor, the Democrat is facing a new round of questions about her authenticity and trustworthiness, concerns that have trailed her throughout the campaign. The hacking of her top campaign adviser's emails revealed a candidate that is averse to apologizing, can strike a different tone in private than in public, and makes some decisions only after painstaking political deliberations.

The last in a trio of presidential debates, Wednesday's contest in Las Vegas comes just under three weeks from Election Day and with early voting already underway in several key battleground states.

Trump has leaned on an increasingly brazen strategy in the campaign's closing weeks, including peddling charges that the election will be rigged, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. presidential contests. He's also charged that Clinton attacked and intimidated women involved with her husband's affairs, bringing three women who accused former President Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual contact and even rape to sit in the audience for the second debate. The former president has never been charged with crimes related to the encounters, though he did settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.

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VIEWERS' GUIDE: Candidates hone final arguments for Round 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was barely three weeks ago that Donald Trump opened the first presidential debate by asking, with faux deference, if it was OK to refer to his opponent as "Secretary Clinton."

By Round 2 he was back to calling Hillary Clinton "the devil." Since then, the Republican candidate's scorched-earth campaign tactics have left all sides wondering just how low things will go in the third and final presidential debate, coming up Wednesday night.

For her part, Clinton steps up as a flood of hacked emails provides an unprecedented real-time look into the machinations of a presidential campaign — hers. In the disclosed material, Clinton is shown taking positions in paid, private speeches at odds with some of her public pronouncements. And she is revealed as resistant to advice by aides to apologize for her email practices and clear the air. That's all fodder for the debate.

Trump, never known for self-censorship, has pronounced himself "unshackled" at last in the final weeks of the campaign. That has people wondering what Trump possibly has left to unleash.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News will have new information about both candidates to delve into during this debate. For Trump, there is the drip-drip drama of women who have come forward to allege that he went after them with unwanted sexual advances. For Clinton, there is the drip-drip of WikiLeaks.

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As territory shrinks, IS group looks for new money sources

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Islamic State group sees its territory shrink to half its original size and its dreams of a caliphate evaporate, the extremist fighters are losing access to the sources of revenue that once gave them their power, prompting them to turn to extortion, kidnapping or foreign donations like their predecessors, the militant group al-Qaida.

The Islamic State group had a unique ability to capitalize on the natural resources of its territory in Iraq and Syria and swiftly implement a system of taxation and governance that allowed it to rule an area that once was the size of Switzerland.

As the battle gets underway to retake Mosul, the group's largest stronghold in Iraq, the Islamic State group is being denied access to revenue sources such as oil and gas and cash reserves that once amounted to more than $1 billion in 2014, said Daniel Glaser, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for terrorist financing.

With those resources slipping away, the Islamic State group is expected to revert to "traditional methods we see al-Qaida using — whether it's deep-pocket donors, whether it's charities, whether it's NGOs, whether it's criminal activity," Glaser said in a recent discussion at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Beyond oil and gas sales, the Islamic State group also generated some $30 million per month in Iraq from taxation and extortion in 2015. Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on IS who advises the Iraqi government, said the militant group currently makes about $4 million per month from taxes in Mosul alone. Al-Hashimi said the group charges a 4 percent income tax on salaries less than $600 per month, and 5 percent on monthly salaries between $600 and $1,000.

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From Mosul to Raqqa? A complex, risky battle against IS

BEIRUT (AP) — Simultaneous attacks on the Islamic State-held cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militant group's self-proclaimed caliphate across the border in Syria, would make military sense: such assaults would make it harder for the extremists to move reinforcements and deny them a safe haven.

When preparing for the Mosul operations this summer, U.S. officials said a push against IS in Raqqa could be almost simultaneous, putting additional pressure on the group by stretching its ability to defend two strongholds at once.

While the long-awaited Mosul offensive began earlier this week, there's no sign of an imminent campaign against Raqqa.

Perhaps that's because Syria is proving to be a more daunting terrain than Iraq. Going after IS-held Raqqa would mean moving deeper into an explosive mix of regional and international rivalries, including a proxy war that has pitted the United States against Russia and its allies.

The fight against IS in northeastern Syria also underlines a U.S. reliance on its one effective partner there— Syria's Kurds. Such an alliance for a Raqqa campaign threatens to ignite a new conflict, with another U.S. partner, NATO member Turkey, and its allied Syrian rebels.

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IS car bombs, mortars slow down Iraqi advance on Mosul

KHAZER, Iraq (AP) — Islamic State militants have deployed suicide car bombs and fired mortar rounds to slow down the advance of Iraqi troops outside a key town near the militant-held city of Mosul, an Iraqi army officer said Wednesday.

The officer from the 9th Division told The Associated Press that his troops were now around 1 kilometer (half mile) away from Hamdaniyah, a historically Christian town also known as Bakhdida.

Since Tuesday, IS has sent 12 car bombs, all of which were blown up before reaching their targets, he said, adding that Iraqi troops suffered a small number of casualties from the mortar rounds. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, did not provide specific figures.

Iraq launched a massive operation on Monday to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city and the extremist group's biggest urban bastion.

The operation is the largest launched by the Iraqi army since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Some 25,000 troops, including Sunni tribal fighters, Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga and state-sanctioned Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units are approaching the city from different directions.

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Russia accuses US-led coalition strike of killing 6 in Syria

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's military says a U.S.-led coalition airstrike on a Syrian village in the province of Aleppo has killed six civilians.

The military's Reconciliation Center in Syria says Tuesday's strike on the village of Hassajek also wounded four people and destroyed two houses.

The center says Russian military surveillance means spotted two Belgian F-16 fighter jets over the area at the time of the strike. It noted that Russian and Syrian warplanes weren't flying over the area Tuesday.

Russia announced that Russian and Syrian warplanes halted their airstrikes on the besieged city of Aleppo, in preparation for a temporary pause in the military push that Moscow has announced for Thursday.

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Philippine police van rams protesters in front of US Embassy

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine police van rammed into protesters, leaving several bloodied, as an anti-U.S. rally turned violent Wednesday at the American Embassy in Manila.

At least three student activists had to be taken to a hospital after they were ran over by the van driven by a police officer, protest leader Renato Reyes said.

Associated Press TV footage showed the van repeatedly ramming the protesters as it drove wildly back and forth after activists surrounded and started hitting the vehicle with wooden batons they seized from police.

In front of horrified crowds, including videojournalists and photographers, the van suddenly charged backward then sprinted forward twice over a space of about 20 meters (60 feet), barreling through the scattered protesters and hurtling some to the side like bowling pins. A few got ran over but somehow managed to stand.

Some screamed in surprise, others hurled stones at the van and yelled invectives. A speaker called the police "puppies of imperialists" on a loudspeaker.

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Where Zika struck hardest, Brazil moms say more help needed

RECIFE, Brazil (AP) — As the sun dyes the early morning sky a reddish hue, Angelica Pereira carries her 1-year-old daughter out of the tiny white house sitting on a dirt road where piles of garbage float in puddles.

The driver sent to fetch her and other mothers with babies disabled by the Zika virus is two hours late, which could mean less time with the therapists who help her daughter move rigid limbs and a floppy back.

While battling these logistical challenges, Pereira also struggles to find and afford expensive drugs that families must pay for because government health plans don't cover them.

"We are always chasing something. We have to drop everything else, all our chores, our homes," said the 21-year-old. "There are so many of us with children with special needs. (The government) is forgetting about that."

Zika initially was known only to cause flu-like symptoms in some people. But a surge late last year in cases of babies born with small heads in northeast Brazil set off worldwide alarm about the virus, which was later linked to a birth defect known as microcephaly. When the connection was made, then-President Dilma Rousseff promised that affected families would get the help they needed.

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Campus sex assaults stir debate on when to alert students

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When a student athlete at San Jose State University in California was accused of sexually assaulting two women at an off-campus party over Labor Day weekend, school officials acted decisively.

The student was ordered to stay away from the women involved and was moved from his dorm into a staff housing facility. He was also temporarily suspended from campus and team events pending the result of an investigation.

University officials also acted quietly, prompting many students to ask why they were kept in the dark about the alleged assaults. Fueling the criticism, the suspect — identified as an international student — left the country as authorities investigated.

The case has renewed focus on the problem of sexual assaults involving college students and raises questions about what obligations a university has to inform students and when it's time to go public about an alleged assault.

University officials and legal experts say it's a delicate issue. On one hand, students have an interest in knowing immediately if a perpetrator is on their campus. But schools also need to protect students' privacy before an arrest is made or charges filed.

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Robotic scan for horses could hold promise for human health

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Veterinarians hope an innovative type of CT scan can advance medical care for horses and possibly be adapted for humans, eliminating the need for people to lie still inside a tube.

Robotic CT at the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school allows a horse to remain awake and standing as scanners on two mechanical arms move around it. The resulting high-quality images, including some in 3D, for the first time offer detailed anatomical views of the animal in its normal, upright state.

That's a huge difference from the standard CT for a horse, which requires administering anesthesia, placing the animal on its side and maneuvering a scanning unit around the affected area. Not all body parts fit in the machines.

Robotic CT "is much less stressful," said Dr. Barbara Dallap Schaer, medical director of Penn Vet's New Bolton Center. "It's a pretty athletic event for horses to recover from general anesthesia."

The New York-based company 4DDI created the Equimagine system with components from robot manufacturer ABB. First unveiled at Penn last spring, 4DDI now has orders for more than a dozen units at equine facilities around the world, according to CEO Yiorgos Papaioannou.